YOUR SOURCE OF REFERENCE FOR OLYMPIC KNOWLEDGE
The IOC Olympic Studies Centre is the world source of reference for Olympic knowledge. We are dedicated to sharing this knowledge with professionals and researchers through providing information, giving access to our unique collections, enabling research and stimulating intellectual exchange.
As an integral part of the IOC, we are uniquely placed to provide the most accurate, relevant and up-to-date information on Olympism. Our collections cover all the key themes related to the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement and their place within society.
Explore our unique resources
Our knowledge and collections are regularly enriched and include:
- All IOC official publications (since its creation in 1894, incl. Olympic Charters, Olympic Reviews or activities reports)
- IOC historical archives (1894-1994)
- Publications produced by the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games (incl. Official Reports) and the bid cities applying to host the Olympic Games (candidature files)
- Games-time publications of International Sports Federations and National Olympic Committees
- Reference documents and factsheets
- Thematic bibliographies
- Olympic Games results and participation data
- Books, journals, e-publications and e-documents
Join the academic community interested in Olympic studies
One of our key roles is to facilitate communication and cooperation between the IOC and the international academic community in order to promote research and stimulate intellectual exchange.
This worldwide community is mainly constituted by almost 40 Olympic Studies Centres, individual scholars and university students working on academic projects related to the field of Olympic studies.
Thanks to this regular exchange and the work conducted by the academics, we enrich the world’s Olympic knowledge, share new analysis on key topics related to the Olympic Movement and help universities wishing to launch initiatives on Olympic studies.
Find all Olympic Studies Centres in the world and discover Olympic-related initiatives organised by the academic community.
Join our academic mailing list
University professors and researchers are invited to be part of our academic community. To join, email us with a brief description of your academic status and your full contact details. Once registered, you will receive our quarterly academic e-newsletter and other updates concerning Olympic studies initiatives.
Academic research opportunities
If you are conducting Olympic-related research under a humanities or social sciences perspective and would like to apply for a grant, you might be interested in one of the two possibilities of funding offered by the IOC Olympic Studies Centre:
- For early career researchers: the PhD students’ Research Grant Programme;
- For established researchers: the Advanced Olympic Research Grant Programme.
We invite you to learn more about the objectives, rules, guidelines and application forms of the grant programmes here.
You can also consult here the list of the research projects that have been previously awarded.
In addition to these programmes and to respond to the specific research needs raised by the IOC, open calls for proposals for applied research may be launched throughout the year. These will be advertised on this website and to our academic community.
Consult our collections from wherever you are
Many of our resources can be consulted online, and publications can be borrowed via our inter-library and international loan service. If you do not find the resources you are looking for or if you wish to be informed on a monthly basis about the new releases related to Olympism and sport available at the Olympic Studies Centre, contact us at studies.centre@olympic.org or call +41 21 621 66 11.
You can also consult an online description of the various historical archives fonds. Please note that consultation of the historical archives is only possible on site and upon prior request and is subject to embargo rules.
The origins of the Olympic Studies Centre
The idea of creating an Olympic Studies Centre can be traced back to the reviver of the Modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
To aid the progress of Coubertin’s work, the aim of the IOC Olympic Studies Centre is to preserve and share the history of the Olympic Movement to enrich the future of Olympism.
